The Tower of London

My parents arrived safely on Saturday and we didn't do much of anything their first day here. They took a nap, we ate lunch, and we walked around our neighborhood a bit. But it was a rainy, cold, windy day (we even had some hail), so we did not do too much. They had a great night of sleep and don't seem to be troubled by jet lag very much!

Yesterday we took them to the Tower of London, one of the greatest sights to see in my opinion.
The Crown Jewels are kept there, under tight security of course! They are amazing! There are
several crowns, scepters, rings there - they

only use them for a single occasion so of course they must have multiple crowns!

The Tower of London is where several people lost their heads, including two of King Henry VIII's wives and young Queen Jane Grey, who was queen for only 9 days.

The building dates from 1066 and has served as a castle (the Queen still has a residence here, but doesn't stay here anymore), prison and fortress. The Tower is guarded by the Yeoman of the Guard (above photo), who now mainly give tours. It is also "watched over" by the ravens. Folklore has it that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, the Kingdom will fall. We did see the changing of the guard ceremony at the Crown Jewels building - they are guarded by the same soldiers that guard Buckingham Palace.

The picture of Sean is him in one of the "gardenrobes" - the indoor biffy! He was amazed by them... The building where the gardenrobes are is the White Tower, where they now have a display of old armour and a hands-on kids area where Sean got to try a bow and arrow.

The other photo above is myself with my cousin Nesba outside of the Tower Gates. The Tower is on the Thames, and very near the Tower Bridge. The last picture is Mike (he is in the brown hat and coat) making the catapault go! We watched a demonstration of old weaponry like the crossbow and a large machine-type crossbow that we don't remember the name of.... They needed volunteers to work the catapault and Mike did it! Sean was so excited about that he could hardly contain himself! They catapaulted water balloons for the demonstration! It was really neat to see the old weapons.